Pumpkin Gingersnap Ice Cream

I have a history of not letting things set. This means I’m the worst at letting my nail polish dry, but that’s because the second I finish painting my last nail something urgent comes up and I’m frantically trying to navigate through my life with wet polish! An important phone call, a scratch that needs scratching, a knock at the door, my son jamming bread up his nose, or picking up a bowl’s worth of Cheerios off the floor are all things that would happen the second I’m done painting my nails.

The reason why I don’t often make ice cream is that I’m totally impatient when it comes to letting ice cream set. About 2 hours after I put this ice cream into the freezer for its big deep chill, I dipped a clean spoon in to taste. To my dismay, it wasn’t finished but it DID taste totally awesome. Why didn’t I just let it set??!

OK so I let it set. Then I scooped out some ice cream, plunked in a lone gingersnap and got right down to business. Creamy pumpkin ice cream studded with gingersnaps and perfumed with hint bourbon? You know you want it! This is the ice cream recipe that made me realize that ice cream really is worth the wait. Perhaps after 32 years of living I will finally figure out patience?

In a bowl, stir together 1/4 cup milk and the cornstarch; set slurry aside. In a 4-qt. saucepan, whisk together remaining milk and the cream, sugar, syrup, and salt; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook for 4 minutes; stir in slurry. Return to a boil and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Place cream cheese in a bowl and pour in 1/4 cup hot milk mixture; whisk until smooth. Then whisk in remaining milk mixture. Add in the pumpkin, vanilla and spices.

Pour mixture into a plastic bag; seal, and submerge in a bowl of ice water until chilled. Pour mixture into an ice cream maker; process according to manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer ice cream to a storage container and freeze for about 2 hours.

Remove ice cream from freezer and stir in the crushed gingersnaps and bourbon. Put ice cream back into the freezer and continue to freeze until scoopable, 2 1/2 hours and up to 1 week.

Shutterbean Notes:

-I used 3/4 cup pumpkin puree for this but I’d recommend a full cup. Make it pumpkin-y!

-The gingersnaps will be crunchy the first day you make the ice cream and will soften through the next few days. It still tastes pretty awesome!

Hi Tracy. Autumnal flavors in an ice cream are just perfect, love this idea!
I know how you feel about waiting for an ice cream to set. I have done the same thing you did too many times…. sneak a spoonful before it has set

Sorry, I may have missed it, but at what point do you add the pumpkin puree and the spices? I don’t see it in the written recipe, but in your picture it looks as if you add it after you add the hot milk mixture to the cream cheese. Thanks!

Oh, I’ve been meaning to try out that method of ice cream – using the cream cheese and cornstarch. I’ve been seeing it everywhere! But it was for her lemon flavor, which just isn’t a flavor that got me jumping on board right away. I was busy making chocolate stuff. But THIS I want to try! Thanks for sharing! And inspiring! And PUMPKIN!

I don’t even like gingersnaps and this sounds good. How do you do that? Is this the technique from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams that was in a recent issue of…some food magazine, maybe Bon Appetit? I haven’t perfected ice cream yet, I always end up with something that leaves a weird fatty residue on my spoon. This might be a good technique to try…

I’ve been looking for a pumpkin recipe (without all the egg yolks) for awhile now and I think I’ve found it now, thanks to Pinterest! So excited to try this out, especially with the gingersnaps. These photos are making my mouth water, it looks so good!

[…] have everything in one! Break apart some cookies and mix them into the already churned ice cream a la Shutterbean. Toasted chopped nuts and crystallized ginger could also make for a crunchy topping. Or maybe a […]